In one of my parents' many photo albums, there exist pictures of me at a young age demonstrating my total lack of ability at doing a backwards roll in gymnastics. I was probably about Sydney's age when my parents signed me up for what turned out to be my only gymnastics class. While my older sister seemed to get the hang of it all, and stayed with the sport through junior high, I peaked and ended with that first class. My toughest tumbling accomplishment: tucking into a ball and rolling sideways in a move the teacher called "the egg roll".
Sydney's already got me beat.
A few weeks ago, as we debated which day of the week would work best for Sydney to go to dance class, she announced she didn't want to go to dance class any more.
Fine by me.
She then decided she wanted to try gymnastics instead. Coincidentally, I had just signed us up for a family membership at the YMCA, which offers gymnastics. Perfect!
Until a boy in her class told her she wouldn't like gymnastics. Why? Because the water was too deep.
It took some convincing, but at last she believed me that Brock must be trying to trick her. There's no water in gymnastics.
And that's how I ended up spending an hour Saturday morning watching Sydney's attempts at somersaults, hand stands and cartwheels. She has plenty of room for improvement.
She also got to to walk, jump and turn on the balance beam.
As an added bonus, there's a playground with a slide right outside. Sydney can't wait for next week!
Until then, I can work with her on hand stands and cartwheels. I may even try to teach her my specialty move, which I was quite shocked wasn't part of the initial lesson. But then again, it takes some skill and practice to perfect the egg roll. Her instructor must be saving that for a later session.
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